Contemporary
challenges facing close-knit families form the crucible that forges a
new generation.

Brandis,
Gabriel, Blair and Lillian emerge from the entanglement of their
parents’ longstanding emotional connections, but one’s star will
burn brighter – and hotter – than the others.

With
a personality that consumes everyone and everything in its path,
Brandis Gordon struggles to maintain control as he ricochets between
wild success and miserable failure. His life proves how even the
strongest relationships can be strangled by the ties that bind.

Brandis
and Gabe Frietag are as close as any brothers, bound by both loyalty
and fierce rivalry. The strength of their ultimate alliance is tested
time and again by Brandis’ choices.

Companions
from birth, Blair Frietag and Lillian Robinson share loner
tendencies, but come to rely on each other through adolescence. As
they mature, both are forced to confront their feelings for the men
they knew as boys.

Somewhere
between the tangle of good memories and bad, independence and
addiction, optimism and despair, the intertwined destinies of the new
generation finally collide, leaving some stronger, others broken, but
none unscathed.

As
a chronicle of three families navigating the minefields of teen years
into the turbulence of young adulthood, GoodFaith
holds up a literary mirror to contemporary life with joys and
temptations unflinchingly reflected. Its fresh, real-life voice
portrays the sheer volatility of human nature, complete with the
hopes, dreams, and unexpected setbacks of marriage, parenthood and
“coming of age.”

Excerpt

That
morning his father had roused him from a sound sleep. He’d blinked,
confused, by the angle of the sunlight. He rarely slept much past
eight since he usually had some sort of training or the other.

“Let’s
go son. Time for lunch.”

Brandis
had dragged himself up, his limbs feeling like they weighed a
thousand pounds each. His brain buzzed with a strange sort of energy,
his typical state, and not at all welcome considering it normally
didn’t hit him until later in the day. The conversation his father
began as soon as they were seated at their usual diner did not help.

“So,
listen, Brandis. These girls…Katie’s friends from college….”

Brandis
sipped his ice water, waiting for his father to finish the thought.
His heart pounded, and his face flushed hot with embarrassment.

Jack
sighed, as if exasperated that Brandis didn’t pick up the thread on
his own, leaving him to carry on with the awkwardness about to ensue.
Then he leveled his gaze, his face open, not angry or judgmental. “I
think that you may be in for some…I mean, they’re…shit.”

“If
you are gonna tell me where babies come from again,” Brandis said,
after deciding to ease his father’s obvious distress. He cocked an
eyebrow and half a smile. Jack seemed to relax somewhat as Brandis
continued. “Don’t bother. I already know.”

He
flashed his brightest smile up at the middle-aged woman who stood at
their table, coffee pot in hand. She blinked rapidly at him, and at
that precise moment, Brandis got his first flash of…something…about
his power. Up until now he’d merely been “Brandis the trouble
maker, the causer of strife.” Suddenly, he felt strong, amazingly
so, stronger than even the man sitting across from him, a taller,
older version of himself. His body tingled all over, as he tested the
smile out again on the woman, making her slop some coffee out onto
the table. His father frowned, but then chuckled as the woman walked
away after they gave their orders.

“Son,”
he said, leaning back and cradling the coffee mug to his chest. “Your
adventure has only just begun.”

“Huh?”
Brandis picked up his cup but didn’t drink any. He hated coffee,
but had ordered it in a burst of need to be more like Jack. As he
sipped the bitter stuff, he was transported back years before when he
and his dad would spend every single Saturday morning together,
eating breakfast at this very diner. He had adored the man, he
remembered distinctly. His chest hurt at the simplicity of their
relationship then. He looked away from Jack’s deep blue, knowing
gaze.

The
subject changed of its own accord, and Brandis let it. Although part
of him wanted to ask for advice, a much bigger part would not allow
the words past his lips.

They
ate, discussing the upcoming football season and Brandis’ part in
it. The recruiting company Jack had contracted last year to video his
every move would start up with the first game. He’d made varsity
again, technically as backup quarterback to a senior boy. Brandis
didn’t see this as a setback and had every intention of starting
under center by the second or third game.

Finally,
when they pushed their empty plates back and sat looking at each
other, Brandis felt more comfortable in his father’s presence than
he had been in a long time. Jack said, “I am pretty sure at least
one of those girls sleeping in the basement is determined to change
the status of your virginity for you probably as soon as tonight.”

Brandis
choked on the last sip of lukewarm coffee. His face burned, and his
body tingled again. “I’m…it’s…uh….” He clutched the
napkin in his lap unable to meet his father’s eyes.

“No
need to say anything. Let’s just say your mother is an astute
reader of female intent. While I was busy admiring your sister’s
friend’s ass, she apparently read the girl’s mind or something.”
Brandis’ face flushed even hotter.

He
resisted the urge to protest, to proclaim his innocence of such
things. Because he wanted it back—those mornings between them,
father and son, man and boy, not this awkward, man and almost-man
bullshit. Because while the thought of one of his sister’s college
friends popping his cherry remained a pleasant fantasy, it also made
him feel older than he wanted to be right then.

“So,
I bought a box of condoms this morning,” Jack went on. “Put some
downstairs in the side table drawer and the rest in your room. Use
them please.” He sipped the last of his coffee, looked as if he
were about to get up, then leaned forward, touching Brandis’ wrist.
“Have fun. Don’t be an asshole to women. Let every experience
teach you…something. Because you are nothing as a man if you don’t
learn from every woman you…love.” Jack looked out the window onto
the nearly empty parking lot. Then he turned back, tightened his grip
on his son’s arm. “God, you are so…young.” His face fell a
moment, then he perked up again, his eyes twinkling. “Okay, so,
your mother told me to tell you not to let them corrupt you. But all
I’m gonna say is this: always wear protection, no matter what, no
matter how much you don’t want to. And don’t let your mom catch
you in the act. I’ll handle her otherwise.”

Then
he let go, stood and smiled, draping a friendly arm around Brandis’
shoulders as they exited the restaurant.

“No, son. I most
certainly did not. You obviously misheard me.” Jack winked as he
stood by the passenger’s side of his classic Corvette convertible
and tossed the keys to Brandis. “Remember what I told you. Don’t
ride my clutch.”

***

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Her
early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking
fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained
thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and
more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”). More recently she
is garnering even more fans across genres with her latest novels,
which are more character-driven fiction, while remaining very much
“real life.”

With
stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer
pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic
locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a
fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader
seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of
characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination
long after the book is finished.